CANYON, Texas – No. 4 West Texas A&M won their 36th straight game at the First United Bank Center on Saturday afternoon in a Lone Star Conference showdown against Lubbock Christian, 92-68. The Buffs led for from start to finish to improve to 17-1 overall and 9-1 in LSC play.
WT jumped out to a 9-0 lead in the opening three minutes including one of Jon'il Fuget's three trifectas in the game. The lead was down to four, 14-10, at 14:03 before the Buffs went on another 9-0 run to push the lead to double figures for the first time in the game. Qua Grant scored the opening four points of the run before Fugett connected on another three followed by a pullup jumper from Zach Toussaint.
Their third 9-0 run of the first half pushed the lead over 20 points, 38-16, at 6:45 on a 3-point play from Jordan Collins. Grant opened the drive with an old-fashioned 3-point play followed by another three from Joel Murray. They continued to score at will as Grant scored on a layup in the final minutes as WT went into halftime leading 52-28.
The teams would trade baskets for the opening 10 minutes of the second half before WT pushed the lead to a game-high 29 at 9:21 on a fastbreak layup from Murray. Back-to-back layups from Grant kept the lead at 29 heading into the final seven minutes of the contest. Hayden Blankley and Toussaint would take over the scoring duties in the final minutes highlighted by a dunk from Blankley.
Grant had an efficient night with 28 points, eight rebounds, five assists and three steals going 10-of-12 from the floor, 1-of-3 from three and 7-of-7 from the free throw line. Murray finished with 20 points to go along with his game-high six assists while Fugett reached double figures for the first time in nine games with 11.
The Buffs head to South Texas next week to face Texas A&M-Kingsville on Thursday, Jan. 23, followed by a game against Texas A&M International on Saturday, Jan. 25.
